literary_and_cultural_theoryfandomcom-20200215-history
Gilbert and Gubar Madwoman in the Attic
Throughout history, literature has seriously varied concerning what genre pertains to what, what is considered historical, relevant or even important. In the nineteenth century, women writers were offered little to no attention and the brilliant works that some of these writers and authors like Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, and Emily Dickinson would have more than likely just vanished or been kept inconsequential. If it were not for the bravery and the must needed initiative of two women scholarly authors this adverse scenario may have lasted much longer than it did. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar began their study of feminist literature while in college in the 1970's. During their time together, they studied the works of several magnificent female authors from the nineteenth century whose work seemed to focus on the entrapment of the female livelihood in the midst of a patriarchal society. Gilbert and Gubar found that these women were entangled with angst and complexities due to their incarceration. Gilbert and Gubar describe their studies in a multivolume history of women's history in literature titled, Madwoman in the Attic and prove that even the most positive and beautifully portrayed images of women were negative in the advancement of women's work because of the fact that society already had an idea of women based on the 'relevant' authors(men) portrayal of them. Madwoman in the Attic reports the struggles that females in the nineteenth century dealt with to be acknowledged as a writer publicly. The work focuses on how these female authors would portray themselves in their own stories in relation to their male counterpart authors depiction of them in which they were either "angels and monsters." The women that were studied wrote stories with double meanings such as the women being the monster in hiding but still being the socially acceptable women of this time period in order for them to publish their works. In their studies, Gilbert and Gubar find that the imperative literature prior to the late twentieth century and even still somewhat shown in the present day was patriarchal and that the words of women would have no significance to society because of their gender roles. In the Introductory paragraph, they describe, "that women could not become writers and assume a writer's identity until they found appropriate models for themselves in the tradition." Men and women in this time period had very restrictive gender roles, and it was considered out of line for women to express themselves in such an intellectual way. Gilbert and Gubar describe how in literature the female was always portrayed as the Angel or the Monster and there was no gray room in between the two. So, in order for a woman to break through her barrier as a professional writer, she would write just as the men had done. Many of the female authors wrote stories in which the female character was overly monstrous and or angelic so that they could express their inner rage with the societal norms of females at the time while still being able to publish their works. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar refer to a time when women couldn't write what they thought and believed but had to make do with the ideas of men. In order to break out of these metaphorical chains, these women hid their meaning behind the words and ideas of respected male authors. The struggle that the women, cited in Madwoman in the Attic, endured was prevalent throughout the world and without them, and the work of Gilbert and Gubar, the struggle that women faced would have would not be as well known to us, thus decreasing the popularity and authenticity of feminism and the role of the female in literature.